PlayStation 2

Primal

Primal är spelet som äntligen fyller det slitande behovet av ett episkt äventyr i tredjeperson på PlayStation 2. Ett självklart köp för äventyraren.

Einige Leute mögen sich an der relativ kurzen Spieldauer stoßen, ich sage, lieber ein spannendes Spielwochenende, als 2 Monate Langeweile. Primal hat sich wahrlich einen Award verdient und gehört für mich schon alleine dank der witzigen Dialoge und der glaubhaften Darstellung der Hauptakteure in jedes gut sortierte Playstationregal! Abzüge ergeben sich lediglich aus der problematischen Kameraverfolgung und der daraus resultierenden, unbeholfenen, Steuerung.

Give or take, it's hard to go wrong when you've got two heads working together for the sake of the fate of the world rather than just the one. Or so you might think. Primal is an adventure game with two faces. And as such, you've got to look at it one way or the other. If it's the branded trade of exploration, puzzling pathways to surpass, and eye-opening visuals you're after, then by all means, the door is right over there. But if you might be wary of a mediocre combat design amongst a few other little nitpicks, then approach Sony's latest endeavor with the thought in mind that you'll be getting a lot from your game -- just not everything.

There are two sides to every person--a side of us that is seen by everyone and then a hidden side that many of us do not even know existed until it surfaces in the most unexpected ways or moments. For Jen Tate the moment of this discovery comes at the moment where her mortal body hangs on the balance between life and death. Her macabre discovery, though, is that her hidden side has a supernatural origin that is consumed by a savage and ancient power of an outer realm. In Primal, the battle to save the outside world--our world--lies in the hands of a girl just looking for her boyfriend.

From the moment we first laid eyes on Cambridge Studios' atmospheric action/adventure known as Primal, we knew that it had the potential to become something huge. Borrowing an art direction straight out of Clive Barker's Night Breed and matching it up with a gothic hardcore rock n' roll soundtrack, Sony's oft-delayed demon game is as genuinely appealing as it is sinister. And believe us; it's definitely sinister.

Primal's gameplay isn't quite as engaging as the game's presentation, but overall, Primal is still easily recommended to those who enjoy exploring their games and not just plowing through them.

When you strip away the pretty graphics, great music, and story, you're left with a pretty generic game. But Primal does everything as well as its been done before, no better, no worse. It has an interesting story that is worth playing the game for, but it's certainly not for everybody.

Overall, Primal is a game that delivers superbly on all fronts except for the most important one; gameplay. With breathtaking graphics, brilliant sound and dialogue, and fairly steady and intuitive controls, Primal still ends up being a decent title for those looking for a good adventure game to tide them over until the next big thing. However, unless you're an exploration junkie who just loves investigating anything and everything, you may want to pass this game up, despite Primal's impressive production values.

Sometimes a game comes along... and after playing it, you’re pretty sure the development team was influenced by a specific game. No concrete proof -- just intuition. Well, the game that I think Primal was influenced most by is Ico. There are a lot of striking similarities. Of course, it’s not fair to compare Primal to just one game, so I won’t. When stacked up against the library of PS2 games, there are a lot of cool things it does well, and a number of other things it does poorly.

In the end, this would-be epic is nothing more than a series of lock-and-key puzzles - the same outdated concept that developers have been shoving down our throats since the first Prince of Persia. As much as I admire the level of care that went into this product, I'm just very tired of this style of game.

With development spearheaded by the same team responsible for MediEvil, the wildly entertaining PSone game, I honestly couldn't wait to get my hands on Primal. As luck would have it, after spending a few hours with the product, I found myself on my hands and knees praying to the gaming gods that my Playstation 2 would burst into flames - thus melting the disc that was capable of inflicting such pain.

There’s a half-demon hottie on the PS2 calling your name. Will you answer her Primal call? If the thought of a hot chick turning into a bloodthirsty demon sounds wicked, then Primal might be worth a look. Too bad the slow pace of the gameplay hobbles the cool concept.

Struggling goth gal Jennifer Tate is having a really bad day. Just when things seem to be brightening up, a demon monster shows up at her musician boyfriend's gig and whisks her hunk away. Man, don't you just hate it when that happens?

It's difficult to pinpoint one disastrous aspect of Primal - each area of the game is, at worst, horribly average, but when combined the whole experience is so overwhelmingly dull, painfully linear and generally uninspiring that we felt entirely unmotivated to progress. But progress we did, all the while hoping that the adventure we so wanted to enjoy would finally get started. It never did.